China in the media, 8
Yesterday's Globe featured three length articles on China. The first touches on the familiar Olympic theme. On a recent visit to Vancouver the IOC chief Jacques Rogge claimed that China's human rights record is something to be optimistic about. While China may only have have a glass of human rights, Rogge insists "the glass is half full." Rogge tries to provide some useful contextualization for the human rights debate, arguing that China's human rights record has been steadily improving and that the Olympics has brought new freedoms including freedom of movement for foreign journalists. This story is another example of the current Olympic fever, and the expectations that the Olympics should act as an agent of change in China.
The next story isn't strictly a China focused story, but it does provide a useful anecdote and continues on the Olympic theme. In a larger report on attempts to control the weather, Ken Hunt reports that China regularly controls rain fall using silver iodine cloud seeding. Hunt suggests this technology will be crucial for the Chinese to present the perfect Olympics. Later in the article this sort of climate tampering is likened to playing God with a complex system we do not yet fully understand. Chinese applications of science are often framed this way in the Western media discourse. While the West is oftentimes skeptical of genetic engineering, China has no such qualms and engages in large scale experiments and production of GE crops. This, like the climate science application, is often characterized as careless and hubristic by the foreign press.
The final story continues the Olympic theme and is potentially the most interesting of all today's articles. Geoffrey York reports on the opening of Beijing's new airport terminal. York characterizes the new terminal as a product of China's "Olympic frenzy." This sort of terminology is often used in relation to Beijing's Olympic preparations. I would suggest that similar reports on, for example, Vancouver's Olympic preparations use more refined verbage. Next York comments on the staff who for the first arrival dressed in red sashes to welcome the first set of passengers. York claims they are dressed like "beauty queens." He ignores the fact that red sashes are often used in China as a symbol of good luck and welcome. Presumably, as York is the Globe's principal China correspondent, he is aware of this significance. Nonetheless he uses an outlandish characterization in his report. This again demonstrates how China reportage takes on a very 'foreign' flavour even when the report focuses on fairly universal phenomenon such as airport construction.